Peru’s Foreign Affairs Minister Resigns in Blow to Castillo

(Bloomberg) -- Peru’s Foreign Affairs Minister resigned in a blow to the crisis-hit government of Pedro Castillo, which has been in office for less than a month.  

The minister, Hector Bejar, quit after local media published a video filmed last year in which he said the Peruvian navy and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency were behind the creation of local terrorist groups. Castillo accepted his resignation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. 

Castillo, from the socialist Peru Libre party, shocked investors and some allies in his first week in power with some of the people he appointed to his cabinet. Bejar, an ex-guerrilla who praised the communist government of Cuba, was a controversial choice for the role. 

Castillo’s choice of prime minister, Guido Bellido, also worried some Peruvians. He is under investigation for being an alleged apologist for terrorists and says he considers Cuba to be a democracy. 

Read More: Twelve Days In Office and Crisis Swamps Peru’s Leftist President

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Monday that Bejar’s comments were made at a time when Bejar did not hold any public office, and that they have been manipulated, edited, and taken out of context.

Many of the new ministers lack experience or qualifications for their new responsibilities which will include trying to oversee a recovery after Peru suffered one of the worst Covid-19 outbreaks and economic slumps in the world last year. 

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